Lesson 455 - Junior
Memory Verse
"Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Romans 16:17).
Notes
God's Holy Word
God cannot lie. They who love Him know that every word in the Bible is true, that everything written there was written as the Holy Spirit of God Himself instructed the authors to write. God's true people believe the doctrines, or teachings, of the Bible. They not only believe them, they practice them, they live by them.
False Prophets
But there are many people in the world who say they believe the Bible, yet they teach and preach something that is contrary to God's Word. So we are warned not to listen to false prophets lest we should believe a lie and begin to spread a false doctrine ourselves.
The first false prophet we read of in the Bible was the serpent who came to Eve in the Garden of Eden. God had told Adam and Eve that if they ate of the fruit of the tree that was in the midst of the Garden, they would die. That would be a very terrible punishment. It meant more than that their bodies would die. They died spiritually, breaking their fellowship with God. God would no longer come down to walk and talk with them. The serpent said, "Ye shall not surely die." They believed the serpent rather than God, and were driven out of the Garden. Ever afterward there have been false preachers and teachers who claim to be sent of God, but they do not tell the truth. If anyone preaches or teaches anything that is contrary to, or opposite to, that which is written in the Bible, he is false.
Heresy
The false prophet may have been saved at one time; he may have preached the truth of God's Word. But if he comes in a sly way, maybe under cover, to change any doctrine or teaching of the Bible, he is a false prophet. Keep away from him, have no company with him. He is bringing a "damnable heresy," and if you receive it, it will lead you to eternal damnation.
Covetous
The false prophet denies the Lord who bought him, the Lord who shed His Blood for him. He denies the Lord by changing His Word. He denies Him by committing sin and yet claiming to be a prophet of the Lord. The worldly people see false prophets and think that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is full of hypocrites, and speak evil of it.
These false prophets are covetous; some want money; some want the praises of man; some want people to look up to them as great preachers. With smooth, flattering words they "make merchandise" of, or buy and sell the very souls of men. They bring upon themselves and their followers swift destruction -- the judgment of God, which is hanging over them ready to be executed at any time.
Sure Judgment
To show the sureness of God's judgment upon all sinners, even though they may claim to be righteous, the Apostle Peter recounts that when the angels who were in Heaven sinned, God cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.
When in the ancient world God saw that the wickedness of man was great, and that every thought of his heart was only evil continually, He sent the Flood upon the world of the ungodly.
When the people of Sodom and Gomorrah became so very wicked that God could not find even ten righteous people among them, He sent fire from Heaven and they were turned into ashes.
As you read these words you noticed that God delivered Noah and Lot because they were righteous. God has promised to deliver the godly, but His judgment will come upon every sinner who does not repent of his sins and ask for mercy, even though he may pretend to be a preacher of the Gospel. Those who cling to the Bible as their guide and keep true to the doctrines written there, God will deliver. He will deliver them from the influence of false prophets, and He will deliver them from the great judgments to be poured upon the ungodly.
True Doctrine
The Bible is our textbook. As we read from it daily and pray that God will write its lessons on our hearts, we learn its doctrines, some of which are listed here:
REPENTANCE: Every person must repent of, or turn from sin, in order to be saved [MAT:3:2]).
RESTITUTION: He must make restitution; he must take back or pay for anything he may have stolen; he must ask forgiveness for any lie he may have told [LEV:6:1-5]).
SALVATION: When he is saved, he is saved from committing sin. He is saved through faith in Jesus' Blood [ROM:3:25]), and he does not sin any more ([1JN:3:8-9]). If he sins after he has been saved, he is no longer saved; he is backslidden and on his way to hell, unless he repents.
SANCTIFICATION: God says, "Be ye holy; for I am holy" [1PE:1:16]). After a person is saved, he is to be sanctified by a definite work of grace by the Blood of Jesus. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled" [HEB:12:14-15]).
THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST: When the 120 disciples received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire on the Day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter said, "The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" [ACT:2:39]).
DIVINE HEALING: God is our physician, our healer, and we are to trust Him when we are sick. "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up" [JAM:5:14-15]).
COMING OF JESUS: Jesus is coming back to earth again. First He is coming in the sky to catch away from this earth those who love Him and are doing all they understand the Bible tells them to do [1TS:4:17]), while the ungodly will be left on earth to suffer during the Great Tribulation"God's judgments [MAT:24:21]). Then Jesus will come back to earth with His saints to rule and reign a thousand years [REV:20:4]).
THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT: This judgment awaits all who refuse to be saved [REV:20:11-12]). Then this earth will pass away and there will be new heavens and a new earth [2PE:3:13]).
ETERNAL HEAVEN AND ETERNAL HELL: There is an eternal Heaven [REV:22:14]), and an eternal hell [LUK:16:22-26]; [REV:14:11]) that burns with "fire that never shall be quenched'' [MAK:9:43]).
NO DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE: Marriage is binding for life. There may be no divorce and marriage to another while the first companion lives [ROM:7:2-3]).
WATER BAPTISM BY IMMERSION: Water baptism is the privilege and duty of every one who is saved. To be baptised is to be immersed by going down into the water and coming up out of the water, as Jesus was baptised by John [MAT:3:16]). And each one is to be baptised "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" [MAT:28:19]), as Jesus commanded His disciples.
THE LORD'S SUPPER: Jesus Himself gave this ordinance to His disciples [MAT:26:26-28]), and as we partake of the bread and grape juice, emblems of Jesus' broken body and shed Blood, we do it in remem-brance of His death on the cross for us [1CO:11:24]).
THE WASHING OF TH DISCIPLES' FEET: Jesus taught this ordinance by His own example, saying, "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you" [JHN:13:14-15]).
Lying Prophets
If anyone comes to you claiming He is a Christian, or even a preacher of the Gospel, and tries to influence you to believe that any one of the doctrines or teachings of the Bible is not necessary or should be changed, he is a false prophet. Do not listen to him, stay away from him.
Those who listen to him, he allures, or tries to draw aside with promises of liberty, but all the while he himself is bound with the devil. He may have been saved at one time; but if so, he has backslid and it has happened unto him according to the true proverb, "The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."
Questions
1. How do they start their "damnable heresies"?
2. What is a heresy?
3. How do the false prophets deny the Lord? .
4. How do we know that God's judgments will surely come upon any and all sinners?
5. What kind of people are delivered out of temptation?
6. Give the name of the false prophet mentioned in our lesson.
7. What kind of bondage are false prophets?
8. What proverb shows the dreadful end of backsliders?